Wreath laying ceremonies for soldiers Walsh and Armstrong
POIGNANT WREATH LAYING CEREMONIES TO HONOUR THE FALLEN
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TWO Sligo soldiers killed in the line of duty in Lebanon 29 years ago were honoured by the Irish United Nations Veterans Association last week.
In the first wreath laying ceremonies of its kind, army veterans who served with the UN overseas came to Sligo from all over Ireland on the anniversary of the deaths of Private Mannix Armstrong from Sligo, Private Thomas Walsh from Tubbercurry and Corporal Fintan Heneghan from Ballinrobe, Co Mayo.
Separate ceremonies were held for the two Sligo soldiers - at 11am in Sligo Cemetery for Pte Armstrong and at 2pm in Rhue cemetery, Tubbercurry for Pte Walsh.
All three were killed when the truck in which they were travelling hit a landmine outside the Lebanese village of Bra’shit on March 21st 1989.
The two men were on their second tour of duty in Lebanon and were due to finish up and return home to Sligo within a month of their murder.
Last Wednesday at 10.55am families, friends and former comrades in arms were escorted to Pte Armstrong’s grave in Sligo cemetery by army veterans from the Irish United Nations Veterans Association (IUNVA) members of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women of the Defence Forces (O.N.E.), 28th Infantry Battalion Association Vets.
Both Sligo soldiers had been stationed at Finner Camp before their overseas tour of duty.
Parish Priest of St Anne’s Parish Fr Pat Lombard gave the graveside blessing first.
This was followed by wreath laying by members from IUNVA, ONE, the 28th Battalion Association, the 19 th Battalion Association, the 17 th Battalion Association and family members.
Pte Armstrong was survived by his widow Gráinne and young daughter Shannon while Pte Walsh was survived by his widow Pauline and three young daughters, Donna, Laura and Paula.
Shannon Armstrong was among the family members who laid wreaths at her father’s grave.
The veteran’s ceremonial participation gave a moving and impressive dignity to the anniversary, the poignancy of the occasion being heightened by the playing of the well-known Last Post and Reveille military musical pieces and the national anthem.
This is the first year IUNVA attended such ceremonies in Sligo and it’s hoped they will become annual events, especially since next year will mark the 30 th anniversary of their tragic deaths.
Pte Walsh’s brother Anthony said he and his late brother would have served with most of the veterans who attended the ceremony in Tubbercurry.
“Most of the fellows there my brother and I would have served with. There was a lot of families there and a few there of the general public,” he told The Sligo Champion.
Anthony was serving alongside his brother on the same tour of duty in Lebanon when he was killed.
He remembers it as a “fairly quiet” and uneventful tour of duty and the men had only a month and a day to go.
He still remembers the day very clearly. “I was in a camp down the road. I was less than a mile away when the explosion occurred,” he said.
Anthony jumped out of bed when he heard the noise of the landmine detonating.
“I remember going out onto the balcony and I heard over the two-way radio that there were two down and one badly injured,” he recalled.
The communications operator mentioned Pte Walsh over the radio without realising Anthony was standing behind him.
“That’s how I found out. I knew then. I came home that Good Friday and the funerals were on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday,” he said.
“It was a month and a day later that we were due to come home. That made it ten times worse, coming home a few weeks early with your brother in a coffin,” he said.
Anthony paid tribute to the soldiers widows Gráinne and Pauline who had to rear families on their own: “It was an awful time. They had to bring their children up without a father. Two of them are now mothers themselves.”
Anthony never returned to Lebanon after that but continued to serve with the Defence Forces until his retirement.
He and his family were delighted by the UN Veterans decision to mark the men’s anniversaries in Sligo this year.
“It’s lovely. You can sit down and have a chat with them and a cup of tea and it’s lovely to catch up with them and have an oul’ talk about times gone by,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic thing they do. They travel around the country out of their own pockets, from Dungloe, Donegal and Galway to join us,” he said.